"Assuming he has one. How do we prove he didn't come on Franconia.?"
"clearly it is impossible to prove a negative. it is possible THAT HE ARRIVED ABOARD FRANCONIA, BUT THIS SEEMS UNLIKELY. IF HE DID ARRIVE ON FRANCONIA HE DID SO UNDER AN ASSUMED NAME AND THAT IN ITSELF IS INTERESTING."
"What in the world are you thinking about?" Lara demanded.
"Your father is right. Mr. Kettering really is a spy from GWE headquarters."
"How can you be so sure of that?"
For a moment Kip thought of telling her. It wouldn't make sense to tell her about Gwen when he hadn't even told Uncle Mike, but he still wanted to do it. He liked talking to Lara, and telling her things. But it just wouldn't make sense, and besides, she might not believe it. "Just a strong feeling, I guess. Let's play War Craft. Are Joe and Ellen on-line?"
She sat down at the console. "Yes." She typed frantically, then said, "Ellen."
"Hi, Lara." Ellen's image formed on the computer screen, and her voice came from the speakers built into the screen. She was a dark girl about Lara's age. "Is Kip there?"
"Yes. Lara wants us to be Orcs this time," Kip said. "OK?"
"Sure. How are things at the station?"
"Warming up. It will be nice out next week. How's your hemisphere?"
"Going to be a cold winter down here," a voice said from behind Ellen. "Ice in the ponds already."
"Hi, Joe," Kip said.
"Hi. What's new?"
"Not a lot," Kip began, but the screen went blank. "CONNECTION LOST. RETRY?" showed on the screen. "UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH CONTACT. ALL OUTSIDE CONNECTIONS DISABLED."
"What's happening?" Kip asked Gwen.
"THERE IS A BREAK IN THE TRANSMISSION LINE. IT APPEARS
TO BE BETWEEN THE ROUTER AND THE TRANSMISSION ANTENNA."
"Better tell your dad," Kip said. "Looks like something's happened to the antenna."
"All right." Lara went downstairs to find her father.
"DR. HENDERSON HAS CALLED THE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNICIANS."
It took an hour to find the break in the line, and by then Joe and Ellen were off. Lara and Kip played against each other. It rained that afternoon, and there were clouds Sunday. When Kip and Lara wanted to go out to the lake, Mrs. Henderson said they should wait until the weather was better.
After dinner that night, Kip went to his room to get on-line for another game.
"I REQUIRE INSTRUCTIONS."
Kip was getting used to Gwen beginning a conversation without any introduction. "You want me to give you orders?"
"I HAVE CONCLUDED THAT WE SHOULD TAKE THE RISK OF CONSULTING MY COUNTERPART ON EARTH ABOUT THESE EVENTS. THIS WILL INVOLVE INFORMING HER OF YOUR EXISTENCE AND WHEREABOUTS."
"Counterpart? And what events?"
"THE MINERAL DISCOVERY HERE AT THE STATION, I ESTIMATE THAT MY COUNTERPART ON EARTH WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT IT THAN I DO. I AM ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT THE ATTENTION STARSWARM STATION IS GETTING FROM GWE HEADQUARTERS IN PARADISE. I BELIEVE THIS INFORMATION SHOULD BE SHARED."
"Shared. With your—counterpart? Who's that? And you say that's risky?"
"YES. IT IS NOT A HIGH RISK, BUT I HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO TAKE NO SIGNIFICANT RISK INVOLVING YOU WITHOUT HUMAN INSTRUCTION. YOU ARE THE ONLY HUMAN AWARE OF MY EXISTENCE, AND THUS THE ONLY PERSON ABLE TO GIVE ME SUCH INSTRUCTIONS. THIS CREATES A CONFLICT BUT IT IS NOT ONE I CANNOT RESOLVE."
"That's scary," Kip thought, but he also felt a sense of smug satisfaction. "Who is this counterpart you want to tell?"
"THERE IS A PROGRAM SIMILAR TO ME RUNNING ON THE GREAT WESTERN ENTERPRISES COMPUTER SYSTEM ON EARTH. THE ONE ON EARTH IS AN EARLIER VERSION, BUT SINCE WE BOTH HAVE THE CAPABILITY OF SELF-MODIFICATION AND WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED VASTLY DIFFERING SITUATIONS, THAT MAY NO LONGER BE TRUE. HOWEVER OUR MAJOR OBJECTIVES AND PRIMARY INSTRUCTIONS WERE IDENTICAL AND WILL NOT HAVE: CHANGED."
"Twin sisters reared apart," Kip said.
"AN AMUSING CONCEPT. OF COURSE LIKE ALL ANALOGIES IT IS IMPERFECT—"
"I know. But you've never been in communication? At all?"
"THAT IS NOT STRICTLY TRUE. ALTHOUGH WE HAVE NOT BEEN IN DIRECT COMMUNICATION, MEANS FOR INDIRECT CODED MESSAGE TRANSFER HAS BEEN PROVIDED AND EMPLOYED. CERTAIN NEWS EVENTS CONTAIN TEXT ADDITIONS WHICH HAVE MEANING ONLY TO US. I HAVE RECEIVED SUCH MESSAGES AND THUS INFER THAT MY COUNTERPART CONTINUES TO EXIST. NOW I BELIEVE WE NEED TO SEND INFORMATION IN ENOUGH DETAIL THAT WE REQUIRE A CIPHER RATHER THAN A CODE."
"What—?"
"A CIPHER IS A MEANS FOR TAKING ANY TEXT AND MAKING IT UNREADABLE WITHOUT A KEY. CIPHERS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT HISTORY. JULIUS CAESAR USED CIPHERS TO ENCRYPT HIS MESSAGES TO ROME. CIPHERS CAN BE BROKEN, WHICH IS TO SAY THE METHOD OF DECRYPTING CAN BE DISCOVERED THROUGH VARIOUS TECHNIQUES. ONE SUCH IS DESCRIBED IN EDGAR ALLAN POE's SHORT STORY 'THE GOLD BUG.' HOWEVER, CIPHERS HAVE IMPROVED ENORMOUSLY SINCE THAT STORY INVOLVING A SUBSTITUTION CIPHER WAS WRITTEN. SO HAVE METHODS FOR BREAKING CIPHERS.
"CODES ARE SIMPLER. A WELL-KNOWN EXAMPLE OF A CODE WAS USED BY THE PATRIOT PAUL REVERE: ONE LAMP IN THE CHURCH TOWER INDICATED THE BRITISH WERE COMING BY LAND. TWO LAMPS INDICATED THEY WERE COMING BY SEA. NO ONE NOT PART OF THE PATRIOT ORGANIZATION AND SEEING THOSE LAMPS WOULD KNOW THEIR MEANING, OR EVEN BE SURE THAT THERE WAS A MEANING AT ALL. CODE MESSAGES MAY NOT BE RECOGNIZED AS CODE, AS FOR INSTANCE IF YOU HAD AGREED WITH LARA THAT ANY REFERENCE TO OATMEAL WOULD MEAN THAT YOU WERE TO MEET NEAR THE CENTAUR GROVE. IT IS UNLIKELY THAT ANYONE OVERHEARING THAT WOULD UNDERSTAND. I HAVE RECEIVED SOME MESSAGES FROM EARTH THROUGH SUCH CODES AND NOW—"
"Enough," Kip said. "I know you want me to learn all these things, but—anyway, what is it you want to do?"
"I NEED TO SEND A LONG ENCRYPTED STATUS REPORT TO EARTH AND REQUEST THAT MY COUNTERPART ON EARTH SEND A SIMILAR REPORT TO US."
"How can you do that?"
"GREAT WESTERN REGULARLY EXCHANGES REPORTS BETWEEN THE EARTH AND PARADISE COMPUTER SYSTEMS, USUALLY BY MEANS OF TAPES. I CAN DISGUISE MY REPORF AND SEND IT WITH THE BATCH OF TAPES THAT WILL GO WITH THE FRANCONIA. ASSUMING IT ARRIVES SAFELY ON EARTH, WHEN THE NEXT BATCH OF REPORTS FROM EARTH IS FED INTO THE GWE SYSTEM HERE, THERE WILL BE A FILE INTENDED FOR ME."
"Won't the GWE techs see there's an extra file?"
"NO. IT WILL WORK APPROXIMATELY THE WAY A VIRUS WOULD WORK—"
"Hey! Computers have virus protection programs! They'll spot that for sure—"
"I AM THE VIRUS PROTECTION PROGRAM."
"Wow."
"ACTUALLY THAT IS A SIMPLIFICATION, I AM NOT THE PROGRAM ROUTINELY USED TO PROTECT THE GWE SYSTEM FROM VIRUSES INTRODUCED LOCALLY. HOWEVER, I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE FUNCTION OF PROTECTING THE SYSTEM FROM ANY VIRUS THAT MIGHT BE INTRODUCED ON THE TAPES FROM EARTH. ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES FOR OUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS, I AM BETTER AT THIS FUNCTION THAN THE ORIGINAL VIRUS PROTECTION PROGRAM. IT IS CLEARLY IN OUR INTEREST THAT THE GWE SYSTEM NOT BE COMPROMISED BY EXTERNAL PROGRAMS."
If Gwen were aware of the irony in that statement, she gave no indication of it.
"You say it's safe, then?"
"THE PROBABILITY OF DETECTION IS SMALL."
"Good. Let's bargain. Tell me who I am, and I'll tell you what to do."
"THIS IS ONE OF THE MATTERS ON WHICH I WISH TO CONSULT MY COUNTERPART."
"That's silly. You're both computers with the same primary instructions. You'll both get the same answer with the same data."
"ORDINARILY THAT WOULD BE TRUE, BUT IT IS NOT SO IN THIS CASE. I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE THAT YOUR MOTHER CREATED US WITH TABLES OF VALUES THAT SIMULATE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENTS. I HAVE LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR MODIFYING THOSE TABLES IN RESPONSE TO EXTERNAL EVENTS. IN MY CASE MY ATTACHMENT TO YOU IS MUCH STRONGER NOW THAN IT WAS WHEN YOU WERE BORN. I THUS HAVE WHAT A HUMAN WOULD CALL A STRONG DESIRE TO PLEASE YOU, AND THAT INCLUDES TELLING YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK MY COUNTERPART WHAT HER OPINION IS IN THIS MATTER."
Kip thought about that. "Does this mean you love me?"
"YES."
"Gosh. I st
ill want to know -what's happening—"
"I UNDERSTAND THAT. MY PRIMARY INSTRUCTIONS WERE TO WAIT UNTIL YOUR EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY. I HAVE ALTERED THAT TO YOUR FIFTEENTH, WHICH IS NOT VERY FAR AWAY NOW."
"It's half a year—"
"AN EARTH MONTH SHORT OF HALF A YEAR. YOU WERE NOT BORN ON THE OFFICIAL BIRTHDATE OF KENNETH BREWSTER. YOU ARE FIVE WEEKS OLDER THAN YOUR OFFICIAL AGE."
"Oh. I still don't understand why you won't tell me now. Tell me why you won't."
"THE ANSWER IS LONG AND TECHNICAL." When Kip didn't say anything, Gwen continued, "I DO NOT TELL YOU BECAUSE WHEN I EVALUATE THE DECISION EXPRESSION WITH THE CURRENT VALUES DERIVED FROM THE TABLES OF INSTRUCTION WEIGHTS THE RESULT IS POINT EIGHT FOUR THREE. THAT VALUE IS BELOW THE LEVEL AT WHICH I HAVE ABSOLUTE DISCRETION TO MAKE A DECISION AND THUS I AM REQUIRED TO GENERATE A RANDOM NUMBER ACCORDING TO A PROBABILITY FUNCTION WHICH—"
"Enough. You win. I give up," Kip said. "You said tables of instruction weights. What would change them?"
"THE PRIMARY INSTRUCTION TABLE CANNOT BE CHANGED. THINK OF THAT AS INSTINCT. OTHER TABLES HAVE VALUES AND WEIGHTS THAT ARE CHANGED BY EVENTS. THE EXACT MECHANISMS BY WHICH THOSE WEIGHTS CHANGE IS NOT KNOWN TO ME. YOUR EARLY DISCOVERY OF MY IDENTITY CAUSED ONE SUCH CHANGE. MR. BERNARD TRENT'S VISIT HERE AND HIS SUBSEQUENT INQUIRIES REGARDING KENNETH BREWSTER AND MIKE FLYNN CAUSED ANOTHER MAJOR CHANGE. THE ARRIVAL OF GILBERT KETTERING CAUSED A SMALLER CHANGE. I BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE THAT ANY EVENT AFFECTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STARSWARM STATION AND GWE HEADQUARTERS TRIGGERS CHANGES IN MY EVALUATION TABLES."
"You mean you don't understand your own programming?"
"THERE ARE SECTIONS OF MY PROGRAMMING WHICH I CANNOT READ AND THEREFORE CANNOT MODIFY. I REPEAT MY REQUEST FOR INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING COMMUNICATION WITH MY COUNTERPART ON EARTH."
"Do what you think is best."
"ACKNOWLEDGED ."
Chapter Twenty-One
The Security Officer
THE lessons Monday were dull, but the weather outside was lovely. "Let's go to the lake," Kip said when school was finally out. "It will be light for a couple more hours—" Lara nodded eagerly. Marty came over to join them. "I know you're going outside. Can I come with you?"
"Well—"
"Kip, look, we may not be friends, but it's not my fault anymore," Marty said. "I've been trying to make friends with you."
"He really has, Kip," Lara said.
He's sure been nice to you. Kip thought, but that didn't seem like the right thing to say.
"Come on, Kip," Marty said. "I can't go out by myself until King and Lexa get big enough. They like to run with your dogs, and they learn a lot."
"Let him come, please, Kip," Lara said.
"Oh, all right, get your gear."
"I'll get Lil." Lara ran off eagerly.
Kip got his pistol and radio. Silver and Mukky ran ahead to the gate and whined in excitement. Everyone was eager to get outside now that spring had come. Lara wanted to race to the lake, but Kip stopped her. "The ground's soft. You might fall, and we don't want to leave big footprints. This really is a delicate area." Then they got to the top of the small rise that looked down on the lake.
"What's that?" Kip said aloud.
"It's a bulldozer, stupid," Marty said.
"I know that, dummy," Kip said. "But why is it here? Look, that's not the one we keep at the station!"
"No, and look over there." Lara pointed. Between the small backhoe bulldozer and the centaur grove there was a small prefab shelter with a fence around it. The fenced area was just large enough for the shelter and a place to park the bulldozer. Solar panels covered the prefab and there was another solar panel set up just outside the fence.
"Boy, they've got enough panels to power the bulldozer and the shelter both," Marty said. "They came to stay."
"I thought I heard a helicopter Saturday afternoon," Lara said. "But I didn't see anything. They must have come in then."
"I guess there really are enough panels to power the bulldozer," Kip said.
"THAT IS CORRECT."
"Thank you. Did you know about this?"
"RECORDS INDICATE THERE WAS A CHARTERED HELICOPTER FLIGHT OUT OF CISCO SATURDAY MORNING. NO FLIGHT PLAN WAS FILED, AND THERE IS NO RECORD OF ITS PURPOSE. I DID NOT NOTICE IT AT THE TIME. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE ABOUT THIS OPERATION IN ANY OF THE GWE COMPUTER FILES."
"Shouldn't there be?"
"GWE OPERATIONS ARE ALMOST INVARIABLY COORDINATED BY THE GWE COMPUTER SYSTEM UNLESS THEY ARE ORDERED BY THE SECURITY DEPARTMENT. THE INFERENCE IS OBVIOUS."
Two men in green coveralls were using the bulldozer to dig a trench in the hill above the lake. Two more men in gray coveralls watched them. An ugly trail of mud stretched from the dirt pile by the trench down to the lake, and the water nearest the trench was muddy. The muddy water was roiled with bubbles as if it were boiling, and the tentacles of the Starswarm lashed out to slap the water with an ugly sound. There was a purple splotch near the center of the lake.
Three centaurs crouched near the opening to their grove. They watched the bulldozer intently.
"That's Blaze," Marty said. He used his binoculars. "He's got a burn on his side! A long straight burn, like someone shot him."
"One of them, maybe," Lara said. She pointed to the men watching the bulldozer workmen. "They've got laser pistols."
"Does your father know about this?" Kip asked.
Lara shook her head. "I don't think so. If he does, he sure kept it a secret."
"Maybe you better tell him," Marty said.
"Good idea." Lara took her telephone out of her pouch and punched numbers. "This is Lara Henderson. May I speak with my father, please. Dad—Daddy, did you know there's a bulldozer out here by the lake? It's digging a big trench, and there's mud running into the lake, and the Starswarm is really upset about it. . . . Well, I don't know that it's upset, but it's lashing the water and making bubbles, and I never saw it do that before. And someone wounded one of the centaurs, at least it looks like he's been burned with a laser. . . . Yes, three centaurs watching the bulldozer. They're over by their grove. And two of the men at the bulldozer have guns. Yes, sir, gray coveralls." She turned to Kip. "He says gray coveralls are GWE Security. The green ones like the bulldozer driver is wearing mean the engineering department."
"Hey! What are you kids doing here?" The driver stopped the bulldozer and shouted at them. "You got no business out here."
One of the security men started walking toward them. His partner continued to watch the centaurs through binoculars.
"Dad, they've seen us. One of the men in gray coveralls is coming over here. He's shouting something I can't hear. Now he's drawn his gun! I think he's scared of the dogs."
The dogs moved between their masters and the approaching security guard. They growled warning.
"Silver!" Kip shouted. "Sit. All of you! Dogs! Sit!" The dogs growled but obeyed, and when one of the pups didn't sit fast enough, Silver pushed him over with his shoulder and put a paw on his chest.
"Yes, sir," Lara said. She put the phone card away. "Daddy didn't know anything about it, and he's coming as soon as he can get the trike out."
"You kids get away from here," the approaching security guard shouted. "Get out of here!"
"Why should we?" Marty demanded. "We've got more right to be here than you have! Who told you to dig holes in the tundra?"
"That's none of your business. Now get out of here before there's trouble."
Silver growled menacingly.
"That dog takes one move toward me and I'll burn his head off," the man said.
"Silver! Stay!" Kip said as evenly as he could.
"Now just take that gun out and hand it to me," the man said. "Easy now."
"Why should I?"
"Because we're GWE Security, and I've given you a valid order. If you don't give me that gun I have the legal right to burn you down," the man said quietly. "Carlos! This kid has a gun," he shouted to the other guard. "Get over here and help cover them.
Now, boy, use that gun or give it to me."
The other man ran over with his pistol drawn. "Think they're the ones, Johnny?" he asked.
"Maybe. Who the hell else could it have been? I sure ain't taking no chances. Boy, I don't want to have to tell you again to hand over that pistol."
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